29 gallon w/ manzanita burl **update 10/5 - new pics!**

It's been almost a year since I set up my first planted tank, and I finally got around to adding a hardscape. I got this nice burl from Rich (manzanita.com). It was a little too big, so I cut it in half with a Sawzall to make two pieces. Man is this stuff dense. It felt like I was cutting rock!

After soaking the wood for about 4 weeks, I removed all of my plants and vacuumed the substrate pretty good. Did a few water changes to reduce the NH4 that I stirred up, and rescaped my tank.

I know it would look better if the foreground was less busy, but I'm still in the collectoritis stage, and this is my only tank! I have to keep one of everything. I'm also anxious for the background to grow in a bit.

Looking good, I really like the burl! I have been thinking about ordering from them, but like to see what I am getting. With all the fine pieces I see people here getting, I am confidant I can order with out any worries!

What are you going to plant on the driftwood?. . . . colectoritis here we come!

lumpy - I may try some willow or java moss on the wood. I also have two clumps of fissidens that I may try to tie to the wood.

fresh_newby - Thanks! Satine poses for almost all of my pictures and she's been in my tank since day one (before it was even planted) over 2 years ago.

For the past few weeks I cut my photoperiod to just 65W for 8 hours (29 gallon tank). Although plant growth has slowed down a bit, all of my algae issues have slowed down even further. Even though they are growing slower, the plants are healthier too. Thanks to WolfenxXx for the lighting advice.

No problem, that's my fastest-growing weed! (and one of my favorite plants, too) I do need to wait a week or two for it to fill in though. But then I can probably send you 3-4 stems plus some extras. I'll send you a PM once I have enough.

Very nice change. Your blue gourami is beautiful! They tend to uglify as they get larger, but yours still looks good I think the comments about dressing the wood with anubias, moss, or fern are accurate. You're just a few plants and some string short of a very well scaped aquarium.

I am currently using 2 GE 9325K 55W bulbs in my 2X65W Coralife fixture. (only one on at a time, but for the photo both are on).

The mazanita piece I have has some really nice reddish colors to it. The A. reineckii in the background is naturally a really bright red underneath. Also the polygonum sp. takes on an interesting orange color.

Thanks Craig for the advice and the plants (you may have noticed more than half of the species in my tank are from you). It's amazing how much a tank's health can change in a month. Here's the thread that illustrates the algae problems I had just a few weeks ago from using too much light:

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